Two women who worked as volunteers for the Walker County Animal Shelter have each been charged with 23 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. Jerilyn Curtis, 19, and Angel Kitchens, 18, both of Walker County, were arrested Friday. Curtis, a longtime volunteer at the shelter, had been living with her uncle, Jeremy Curtis, who reported the incident to police after he found dead dogs on property adjacent to his on Highway 195.

Winston County Sheriff's office then took about 23 live animals from Curtis' property. Although seven of the rescued animals had to be euthanized due to illness and disease.

The uncle said on Wednesday that almost immediately after Curtis moved into his home, he began to notice his niece bringing home more and more animals from the shelter. The shelter permitted her to take dogs off the property with the assumption that they pets were being adopted or "fostered out." "At one point there were about 30 dogs here, and that's not including the three cats and rabbit running around in the house." It is unclear at this time the extent of Kitchens' role in the incident, but both women could be fined up to $3,000 and sentenced to six months in prison if found guilty.

According to her Facebook profile, Jerilyn Curtis graduated from Jasper's Curry High School in 2012 and was taking classes at a small college.